<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/24/world/africa/24somalia.html>
September 24, 2006
Islamists Calm Somali Capital With Restraint
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
MOGADISHU, Somalia, Sept. 23 — As the sun begins to sink over this
broken city, work crews swing their axes over their shoulders and head
home.
Young couples take to the waterfront, mingling openly in the salty
breeze. Thousands of children flock to soccer fields in the city
center, with a backdrop of beautifully crumbled ruins from battles now
over.
It is hard to imagine that this is Mogadishu, the same Mogadishu of
"Black Hawk Down," and clan against clan and 15 years of anarchy. But
over the past three months, the Islamists in control here have defied
international expectations — in many ways. Not only have they pacified
one of the most dangerous cities in the world, they also seem to have
moderated their message.
Instead of acting like the Taliban and ruthlessly imposing a harsh
religious orthodoxy, as many feared, the Islamists seem to be trying
to increase public support by softening their views, at least
officially, delivering social services and pushing for democratic
elections.
Islamic leaders are operating almost in campaign mode, organizing
street cleanups, visiting hospitals, overseeing a mini building boom
and recruiting elderly policemen to don faded uniforms they have not
worn for years and return to work. Beyond that, they sent a letter
this week to the United Nations Security Council pledging to support
democratic rule.
Maybe this is just smooth talk. Or premature signs that could prove
misleading. Hard-core elements still operate here, including
militiamen who drive around with black scarves and black flags and
shoot people for watching Hollywood movies. Young men like them were
believed to have killed an Italian nun at a Mogadishu hospital last
Sunday, apparently in retaliation for Pope Benedict XVI's remarks on
Islam.
But the Islamist leaders say they are rogue elements who will be
punished, and they have reopened some movie theaters and issued
decrees emphasizing tolerance. Whether they live up to those promises
seems to hinge on whether they can, or even want to, rein in the
militant groups that helped propel them to power.
"The world was so quick to label us," said Ibrahim Hassan Addou, the
foreign minister for the Islamic administration in Mogadishu. "All we
are asking is to be judged on our deeds."
The United States continues to assert that the Islamists are
sheltering Al Qaeda terrorists. The suicide attack against the United
Nations-backed transitional government in Baidoa on Monday only
reinforced that suspicion, though the Islamists deny any involvement.
But the darkest fears of a draconian Islam on Africa's east coast have
not come true, at least not yet. Boys are allowed to play soccer, and
girls are allowed to go to school, despite rumors to the contrary. And
businesses are not forced to close during prayer time, as has been
widely reported outside of Mogadishu.
In fact, people were selling bread, biscuits and watermelon right in
front of the Islamic forces' headquarters during the noon prayer
earlier this week. The teenage militia members standing guard
regressed to the boys that they were, giggling over giant slices of
watermelon and spitting seeds at each other, the juice running down
their chins and dripping onto their guns.
"Nobody knows where we're headed," said Ahmed Mohammed Ali, chairman
of a Mogadishu human rights organization. But, he added, the Islamists
"pacified this place and brought the clans together."
"Whatever you think about them," he said, "you can't overlook that."
There is a famous story that says much about Somalia. It sounds like a
fable, but according to several Somali businessmen, it is sad but
true.
There were two close friends who owned a fishery north of Mogadishu.
They were like brothers and vowed that if anything ever happened to
either of them, the other would take care of his family. They were
from the same clan but from different branches of it, the Saad and the
Saleeban. One day the Saad man was caught in a cross-fire and killed
accidentally by a Saleeban militia. Within hours, the Saad took their
revenge and without consulting the dead man's family shot to death his
best friend.
"Anarchy is bad, man," said Adam Daley, a Somali-American businessman
living in Mogadishu. "Can you imagine New York City without any
police? Or light?"
This is how Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, was since 1991, when
clan-based warlords brought down the central government. United States
marines and United Nations peacekeepers tried to restore order, but
the people rallied behind the warlords and helped drive the foreigners
out.
The fighting razed the city's famed Italian architecture and left a
leadership vacuum. Gradually, clan elders set up small courts to
resolve disputes, using Islamic law to guide them.
Before the war, that might have seemed strange. Somalia used to be a
secular place, where women wore skirts and men drank beer.
But in the period of anarchy, the culture changed. After Western aid
organizations pulled out, Arab charities rushed in, bringing Koranic
schools and more religion.
Militant Islamic groups opened camps in Somalia's deserts. According
to terrorism analysts, American intelligence officers began hiring
warlords to kidnap terrorism suspects and take them to bases outside
Somalia. Often the suspects were innocent imams or businessmen who
were soon set free.
By 2004, the Islamist groups teamed up with clan courts and
businessmen to protect themselves from the warlords, calling their
alliance the Union for Islamic Courts.
Last winter, the warlords announced that they, too, had formed an
alliance, the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and
Counterterrorism. It was a well-known fact, buttressed by the annoying
aerial drone that buzzed over Mogadishu at night, that they had
American support.
That played straight into the hands of the Islamists, who quickly
built an army called the Shabab, or youth, made up of young, devout
fighters, to overthrow the warlords. The Shabab wore green skull caps
and little beards. They did not smoke cigarettes or chew qat, the
popular narcotic leaf that had spurred so much of Mogadishu's madness.
People were impressed.
"Every day at noon women were driving to the front lines to bring
these guys food," recalled Ali Iman Sharmarke, one of the founders of
the HornAfrik television and radio station.
The warlords were steadily pushed back and soon could not trust
anyone, including phone operators, whom they suspected of tapping
their calls.
"We had no communication or leadership," said Col. Ali Warsame, whose
warlord commander ended up fleeing Mogadishu on the back of a donkey
and wearing a veil. By the first week of June, all the warlords had
been defeated.
The courts' first move was a thank you to their patrons. Within weeks,
Mogadishu's port and airport, which had been essentially closed for
more than a decade, were open for business.
The courts then took many of the warlords' militiamen to an old army
base outside the city.
There, under a searing sun, 700 young men march in circles, chanting,
"God is great!" and doing a funny elbow-swinging goose step.
"It's Russian," Col. Muhidin Haji, the camp commander, explained.
The courts are now focusing on civil administration, with committees
on sanitation, reconstruction, education and justice. Investment money
is already flowing back in. The streets around Mogadishu's main market
are clogged with trucks hauling logs and cement. To oversee all this,
the Islamists have appointed university professors, including many
educated abroad, to crucial posts.
The Islamists are meeting with leaders from the transitional
government based in Baidoa, 150 miles inland, to discuss sharing
power. Despite being recognized by the United Nations, the
transitional government has very little support among Somalis.
Under a United Nations-backed framework, Somalia is supposed to have
elections by 2009. The Islamists say the sooner the better. They know
they are the most popular force in the country.
One morning this week, hundreds of men volunteered for an
Islamist-organized cleanup. With the clap of his hands, the work
leader sent them plunging into overgrown thickets to clear brush.
"It's an exchange," said Abdul Aziz Issah, one of the workers. "They
brought us peace, we give them work."
There is so much of it to do. Huge swaths of the capital have been
reduced to ruins, with an arch left here, half a crumbling wall left
there. In many places, Mogadishu looks like an ancient city that has
been deserted for centuries, just riddled with holes.
--
Yoshie
<http://montages.blogspot.com/>
<http://mrzine.org>
<http://monthlyreview.org/>